1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a device and a process for transporting and dropping a plurality of charges contained in a single container suspended from an aircraft. It further concerns any container equipped with such a device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Said charges may be of extremely varied nature. In particular, they may involve provisions or medical equipment contained in primary containers which are themselves arranged inside a body designed to be suspended from the carrier vehicle, such as an aircraft. They may also involve explosive military charges designed to neutralize relatively widespread or dispersed ground targets. Such a result is generally obtained by means of two families of weapons, one of which consists of spreading a large number of autonomous sub-projectiles, and the other of sending out a great number of powerful fragments. If a plurality of module units having fragmentable bodies can be arranged inside a so-called modular bomb and endowed with means for ejecting the bomb units one after the other at preset moments, then the combined advantages of the two families of weapons may be obtained.
In all cases, but particularly with regard to military explosive charges, it must be impossible for any action to be carried out (e.g., firing of explosive means) within the module units as long as the body containing them is not actually disconnected from the carrier vehicle, i.e., before release has actually taken place.